1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an antenna apparatus for a printed circuit board having and ways to improve the efficiency and gain of such antenna apparatuses.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, “a portable communication device” refers to a device which functions as wireless communication device, typically between the user and another person or an interactive server. Portable communication devices include HHP, CT-2 cellular phones, digital phones, PCSs, PDAs, etc. Wireless terminals can be classified into categories such as bar-type terminals, flip-type terminals, folder-type terminals, sliding-type terminals, and pop up-type terminals according to their appearance. Portable communication devices essentially include an antenna device, a data input/output device, and a data transmitting/receiving device. Further, the data input/output device generally uses an LCD or other type of thin display.
Furthermore, the number of users owning a portable communication device has dramatically increased to the point that most people now have their own personal portable communication device. Initially, portable communication devices were used to provide a voice service simply for telephone calls. However, terminals capable of providing enhanced functions, such as listening to the radio, reproducing MP3, watching a moving image, a remote control, or the like, have now exist and have become extremely popular.
The widely-used conventional monopole-type whip antenna or helical antenna has the structure of protruding from the exterior portion of the portable communication device. Newer portable communication devices tend to not have telescopically extendible antennas, which are giving way to built-in antennas that are embedded in the portable communication device. The built in antenna doesn't take or require as large a space as their protruding predecessors.
Examples of such built-in antennas include but in no way are limited to: the chip antenna, the Planar Inverted F Antenna (PIFA), the loop antenna, and the antenna apparatus for the printed circuit board (PCB).
In an example of a relatively low-cost model, the antenna apparatus for the printed circuit board in which an antenna pattern is formed on the printed circuit board is mainly used because of savings in material costs, as opposed to the carrier type antenna included in the built-in antenna.
An antenna apparatus of the printed circuits board typically utilizes a flat antenna, is easily implemented for the circuit and is low cost in comparison with the coil-type antenna, and thus overcomes many of the problems of conventional antenna apparatuses in the process.
As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional antenna apparatus 1 for the printed circuit board includes a Printed circuit board (PCB) 2 in which the components of the portable communication device are mounted, and an antenna pattern 3 functioning as radiator that is patterned on the PCB 2 in a predetermined shape.
The material of FR4 is widely used with the PCB 2 and the antenna pattern is printed with Copper (Cu).
However, in the conventional antenna apparatus for a printed circuit board, the antenna capacity typically decreases, so as to cause the degradation of the radiation performance, thereby deteriorating the efficiency and gain of the antenna.
Therefore, the conventional antenna apparatus for the printed circuit board has required the solution of the problems for saving material costs and improving the efficiency and gain of the antenna, and further requires to achieve a performance corresponding to or higher than a performance of conventional built-in antennas.